A helicopter attempting to land on sandy or dusty terrain is often enveloped by a dense cloud of dust and particles in a condition that has become known as a “brown-out”. This condition obscures the pilot's vision so severely as to make such a landing a safety threat to the aircraft and to persons in the aircraft and on the ground. The nose-up landing posture often needed for such a landing contributes to the danger of the landing by also making the observation of the helicopter final destination site and interfering features such as vehicles, persons, ground features and structures more difficult. Events of this type became notably newsworthy several years ago in connection with the 1980 attempt to rescue American hostages from captivity in Iran as was authorized by President Jimmy Carter, see for example the published article titled “The Desert One Debacle” appearing in a more recent, May 2006, issue of the magazine THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. Numerous other items of press coverage of the events preceding and succeeding this rescue attempt appeared in publications originating near the time of the event. The present invention provides significant relief for certain helicopter threats encountered during this rescue attempt and under similar conditions.